Some aerospace lighting applications require immense amounts of light to illuminate parts of the surrounding environment. A traditional lighting solution uses a large halogen lamp with an internal parabolic reflector. These lamps are fairly inefficient and require considerable quantities of electrical power to operate at the intended levels. Most of this power is radiated as heat and creates extremely high temperatures. These lamps must be isolated from other aircraft components so the heat does not interfere with other systems or injure maintenance personnel. Most importantly, halogen lights have a relatively short operating life and must be frequently replaced. Though the lamps themselves are not excessively expensive, replacing lamps involves maintenance time, which costs aircraft owners a significant amount due to aircraft downtime and labor.
A more recent solution for aerospace lighting utilizes High-Intensity Discharge (“HID”) systems. Though HID lamps have a longer operating life than their halogen counterparts, they have higher costs than a standard halogen lamp. The HID systems also require warm-up time of several minutes and the lamps cannot be easily flashed or quickly started.
Light emitting diode (LED) technology can also be used in aerospace lighting applications. LED solutions often have an operating life far greater than halogen or HID lamps. LED solutions are more efficient than halogen solutions and typically require less electrical power. LEDs also have a variety of possible operating conditions, allowing intensity levels and flash rates that are not easily attainable with halogen and HID solutions. Traditional LED solutions utilize one or more arrays of LEDs on a planar configuration. This limits the number of LEDs that can fit in a given size and complicates thermal management. These factors are both important as aircraft mounting installations are generally sized for the halogen solution, and the ability to properly manage heat at the LED directly impacts both the life and intensity of the LEDs.